Attended: Dave Paul
and Rachel Tyndall: King County Traffic Engineers Cheryl Sherburne, Kevin
Morgan, Susie Carney, Robert Hansen, Kendra Mills,
Mary Victory (President of Meerwood
Homeowners Association).
Results of Traffic Studies:
Maps
provided, extras are available at the home of Susie Carney.
In general…192nd
in front of Meerwood park has the most volume of average daily traffic (ADT)
at
1,748. The average speed was 27.75 mph (Avg).
191st ave
SE: ADT: 159 Avg:16.65.
Concerns:
Children at play signs are not ok.
25 mph speed limit holds in
cul-de-sacs, following laws of “Due Care and Caution”.
Cones can be distracting,
actually causing
accidents. They can also
be used to argue for
the
defense, if an accident does occur.
Children below the age of 9 view traffic differently, they are unable to judge
closing speeds;
they
don’t relate a nearby moving vehicle to dangers; and they may not relate to
traffic noise
(e.g.
an approaching vehicle heard, but not seen) to imminent danger. Running in
residential
streets can contribute toward an accident, as less reaction time is
available.
Yellow line on 192nd
may be facilitating speeding as people view it as a thoroughfare. Why
does
this street look different from the rest of the neighborhood?
Historically, the line used to
be a skipped yellow line that was probably suggested by a
homeowner
to facilitate cars to stay in their own lane.
Then 8 years ago new Federal law
mandated
that skipped yellow lines become double yellow lines even in residential
areas.
The double lines can be removed and replaced with 4x4 yellow reflective
pavement
Markers. Board will plan to
discuss this issue this Wednesday. The
consensus of
homeowners
at this meeting was that this was a good idea.
Other
options discussed for 192nd:
“Rumble strip”: tool for edging roads as used on highway, too
noisy.
Speed
humps: Specific criteria has to be met
to justify, as speed humps slow
rescue
vehicles by 3-10 seconds. In 2000 only
one set was installed.
“Turtles”: 4” high, 8” round. Bicycling community lobbied successfully 8
years ago to
stop installing
these. They can diminish corner cutting
but again are too noisy
for a neighborhood.
Traffic circles:
40-60 a year. However they have high volumes of traffic, a history
of
accidents/fatalities they had to
address. Unincorporated
not had this history.
Additional
stop signs: Can’t use for speed control,
have to be used for intersections only
and then in compliance with the Federal “Manual
on Uniform
Traffic Control
Device.”
“Edge Lines”: May encourage speeding because taking on
“trappings” of a main arterial
because
travel lane becomes very visible.
Officer
patrol: Motorcycle patrolman Officer
Bartlett, has been patrolling. He is
mandated by the courts to
ticket people at least 10mph over the posted
speed limit. He has very little ticket volume in this
area, except on
Tools for
Safety:
Single most important factor is sightlines. Shrubs should be below height of 2’, and trees
limbed up so that they are 5’ high from the road. At intersections this pruning should occur
15-20’ “deep” into homeowners property.
Traffic engineers have authority at intersections on private property to
prune.
Parking cars on the street. Forces drivers to slow
because of congestion. It is illegal to park on the sidewalk.
Education/Installation of a blue sign that states: Please drive carefully for our children’s
sake. In order for a neighborhood to
qualify for this sign, specific criteria has to be
met:
Use the Radar/Readerboard-which we have done.
Distribute flyers to every home in
the neighborhood.
Use traffic
enforcement in the general neighborhood within recent weeks.-has been done, but
Dave Paul will ask for more.
Each household driver
must sign a written pledge not to speed on their neighborhood streets, or
streets
within the development.
If you see reckless
driving call 911, explain, be prepared with directions of travel, and
description
of cars/activity.
For further questions contact Dave Paul: Senior Traffic
Engineer at 206-263-6125.
Minutes submitted by Susie Carney @ 425-3733-3359